Edvarad Munch's The Scream Painting Found After Three Months Of Stolen In Today's History, May 7, 1994
Painting The Scream (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Edvard Munch's painting Scream, which is Norway's most famous painting, was discovered on May 7, 1994, three months after it was stolen. The fragile painting was found without damage at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo.

The painting was stolen from a museum in Oslo, Norway. Citing History, the iconic painting was stolen within just 50 seconds of the break-in on February 12, 1994, the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

Two thieves break through the National Gallery window. They cut the wire holding the painting and left a note reading: A thousand thanks for bad security!

Days after the theft, Norwegian anti-abortion groups said the painting could be returned if Norwegian television showed an anti-abortion film. The claim turned out to be false.

The government also received a request for a ransom of 1 million United States (US) dollars on March 3. But they refused to pay for lack of proof of the authenticity of the information.

Finally, police found a four-piece framed painting in Nittedal, Oslo's northern suburb. The possible remains of the frame were a cryptic message that the thief wanted to discuss a ransom.

Finally, in January 1996, four men were tried and convicted in connection with the theft. They include Paal Enger, who was jailed in 1988 for stealing the painting The Vampire Munch in Oslo.

This time Enger was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. He escaped while on a trip in 1999.

Enger was again arrested 12 days later while wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses for a train trip to Copenhagen. In August 2004, another version of The Scream was stolen alongside The Madonna from the Munch Museum in Oslo.

Painting The Scream
Painting The Scream (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

In May 2006, three men were convicted in connection with the theft. Police found the two paintings in August with small scratches and water marks.

Yet another version of The Scream remains in private hands and was sold on May 2, 2012, for $ 119.9 million. Through his paintings, Munch developed an emotional style that served as an important pioneer of the expressionist movement of the 20th century.

He painted The Scream as part of the "Frieze of Life" series, in which sickness, death, fear, love and melancholy are the central themes. The Scream is a painting depicting a figure who is on a bridge.

At Neue Galerie, The Scream is the last painting that visitors see in the exhibition. This is because the painting is considered to be the essence of expressionism.

Neue Gallerie (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

The figure in The Scream is known to be some kind of self-portrait of the artist, whose sister Sophie died when she was 13. Art historians also provide another source that shows the figure in the painting is a Peruvian mummy displayed at the World Fair in Paris in 1889.

According to Munch's diary, dated January 22, 1892, he describes the inspiration for the painting The Scream:

I was walking along the street with two friends - at sunset - I felt a melancholy puff. Suddenly the sky turned blood red. I stopped, leaning against the fence, tired to death, the fiery sky hanging like blood and a sword on the blue-black fiords - my friends continued - I stood there trembling with anxiety and I felt boundless screams through nature. .

* Read other information about ART WORKS or read other interesting writings from Putri Ainur Islam.

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